Religion News: High Court rules in favor of women praying at Western Wall

Thursday

Jan 19, 2017 at 2:01 AM

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WEEK IN RELIGIONA High Court in Israel has given the government and the Western Wall administration 30 days to show a “good reason” as to why women cannot read from a Torah Scroll at the Western Wall. In 2010, Western Wall administrator Rabbi Rabinowitz prohibited women from getting or using a Torah in the women’s prayer area at the holy site. Women were also prevented from carrying prayer shawls, menorahs and tefillin to the Wall. Petitioned by the Women of the Wall and the Original Women of the Wall, the High Court sent notices to Rabinowitz, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Religious Services Ministry and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation that stated they must provide good reasons for not allowing women to pray or worship at the Wall. According to the High Court, it would legally force the governing entities to allow women to pray and worship at the Wall if a “good reason” for the prohibition of women wasn’t presented. The OWOW celebrated the ruling in a Facebook post saying, “In its ruling, the Court put the onus on the defendants to justify withholding Jewish women’s rights to full religious expression, rather than asking us to defend that we have them. This is a momentous ruling.”— More Content Now

SURVEY SAYSPope Francis still viewed favorablyCatholics and non-Catholics in the U.S. have a more favorable opinion of Pope Francis than when he was elected pope in March 2013, according to a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. According to the survey, 70 percent of U.S. Catholics and non-Catholics said they have a “very” or “mostly” favorable opinion of Pope Francis compared to 57 percent in 2013. Although Francis has remained popular since being elected, the survey also found that those who held an unfavorable view of the pope rose from 14 percent in 2013 to 19 percent in 2017.— More Content Now

GOOD BOOK?“Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America” by Michael R. WearBefore he had turned 21, Michael Wear found himself deep inside the halls of power in the Obama administration as one of the youngest-ever White House staffers. Appointed by the president in 2008 to the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and later directing faith outreach for the president’s 2012 re-election campaign, Wear threw himself wholeheartedly into transforming hope into change, experiencing first-hand the highs and lows of working as a Christian in government. In this unvarnished account of faith inside the world’s most powerful office, Wear gives unprecedented insight into the most controversial stories of the last eight years, from the president’s change of position on gay marriage and the politicization of religious freedom to the administration’s failure to find common ground on abortion and the bitter controversy over who would give the benediction at the 2012 inauguration. Wear also reveals the behind-the-scenes struggles behind some of the administration’s signature achievements, including the adoption tax credit and making human trafficking a presidential priority. And he offers a rare window onto the ways the president himself viewed the role of faith in politics.— Thomas Nelson

THE WORDwood: Pronounced “woo-DOO.” A ritual in Islam in which the hands, face, mouth and feet are cleaned with water, symbolic of spiritual cleansing.— ReligionStylebook.com